New Mutants #3: Friends and Family Part 3

The New Mutants were on the move. Beast had managed to come in with the goods thanks to his various links to The Initiative, Tony Stark and The Avengers. A Stark satellite had picked up a few sentinels going through the air in the Brazilian rain forest just before they vanished from the scanners so it was likely they were somewhere near there.

Roberto had instantly given the orders for his private jet to get air clearance as near to the position as it could on some fake heading and be ready to go as soon as possible.

The four remaining mutants were standing ready in the hangar. Cannonball was taking the lead as he laid down some ground rules for the mission and manoeuvres that they had learned years ago off by heart and could still do today as easily as breathing.

“Did you manage to get the things I asked for?” Dani asked Roberto. He nodded and moved to the boot of his limonene where he made sure they were stored before leaving.

He handed her a long bladed knife which looked like a small sword, a hunting bow and a quiver full of arrows. “What the hell do you think you’re going?” Sam asked as she crossed away from tabby and Xi’an to the two.

“I’m coming with you Sam…there’ no use.”

“You aren’t coming! You have no powers and were going up against…”

“I know damn well what were going up against and I’m coming!” Dani barked back at Sam cutting him off like he had done to her seconds earlier. She began affixing her weapons around her person.

“Dani you haven’t got powers. You’ll get hurt going up against these guys. I won’t let you come.”

“You don’t have a choice!” Dani snapped back angrily. “Hawkeye managed with little more than a bunch of arrows for all these years. Storm led the X-Men without any powers and you think I can’t be of any help on this mission? What’s the difference between us? Why are Hawkeye and Storm any different?”

“Because they aren’t my family!” Sam jabbed his finger forward towards Dani. “I’ve already lost enough…we’ve all lost too much to put anyone in danger if we can help it! I’m sorry to tell you Dani but you’re not a mutant anymore, this isn’t like the old days we can’t take you along. I didn’t agree with it but I can understand why they asked you to leave the institute, in danger you’d be a liability.”

“She’s coming.” Xi’an was very careful not to raise her voice as she spoke.

“Xi’an I know that…”

“SAMUEL GUTHERY!” Xi’an was now ready to shout. “If that was Jay, Jeb, Melody or anyone of your kin you know we would all be up there right behind you ready to go.”

“That’s not the issue Xi’an. I’m trying…”
“She’s coming! Leong and Nga consider Dani their aunt. It was arranged long ago should anything happen to me that Dani would become their legal guardian. She loves them almost as much as I do and I know that if she thought for a split second she could anyway hinder this mission she wouldn’t think about coming. She would kill for them and die for them. She is coming. That’s the final word!”

Sam bit back his tongue, Xi’an had put him in his place. He didn’t want Dani to get hurt but it seemed he didn’t have much say in the matter.

“Were ready to go,” nodded Roberto as he watched the signal from the pilot and the mutants started to move towards the plane.

“Sam,” Xi’an stopped their leader for a second and embraced him. “I’m sorry, I was angry but I shouldn’t have mentioned Jay.”

“It’s okay…for what its worth I know Dani can handle herself as well as any of us…I just feel responsible and if anything happened to her.” Sam tailed off. “Lets go get rescue those kids.”

“Sam,” Xi’an stopped him briefly for a second. “If anything happened to Dani you’d be the next person my lawyers would contact.” She embraced him again and then the two started towards the plane.

Military base 30 minutes later…

Jimmy, Rahne and Amara were carried into the camp. The three were strapped to stakes that the mutants had quickly made before taking off into the air.

They landed and began to walk towards a horde of similarly human sized sentinels who were flanked by larger ones. “Guys,” James nodded past the horde of sentinels.

There was a large purple structure of some kind behind a small building which could be seen over it’s roof.

The two girls panned their vision across past the building as the purple hunk of metal continued on to a red hunk of metal. It was the size of a sky scraper lying on it’s side. “Is that what I think it is?” queried Magma.

“A Master Mold.” Rahne nodded. Master Mold was obviously being used to crank out all these sentinels.

Warpath swore loudly seemingly not caring about the sentinels and the soldiers who were now noticeable moving between them. “You do realise now we have to break these restraints and blow that thing up as well as trying to find what these things did with Leong & Nga before we try and escape.”

“We best get a move on then aye?”

James on Rahne’s comment ripped his hands apart tearing his bindings of vines with little effort. Rahne shifted her form to human for a second letting the vines loosen before transforming to a half wolf form and sprinting forwards. Amara now surrounded by concrete and metal let her body explode in flame incinerating her restraints. She thrust her hand forward billowing flames out in all directions.

James accelerated towards the firing soldiers and ploughed straight through them as he headed towards the human sized sentinels. He struck the first two square in the heads before they could react shattering their casing and CPUs.

“Magma take out the Master Mold!” Rahne commanded as she pointed towards it. Magma rolled her eyes back as she caused the ground to splinter and crack. She was summoning magma from the earth below in an attempt to melt Master Mold.

The three were a flurry of action for a few seconds. Their plan to let themselves be taken so they could get to the base had worked perfectly and now it was the fighting portion of the plan.

It rapidly was stopped as the numbers of sentinels had them well outnumbered and overpowered. Their progress of fighting slowed to a crawl and then stopped completely as the sentinels poured onto them. “This didn’t really go to plan did it? We should have thought this through a little more rather than just ploughing into a fight” Magma added as she raised her hands in surrender. She shot a look to Warpath as she said so, making sure that he knew the comment was aimed at his strategy.

An Omega Sentinel fixed her with a gaze and raised it’s cannon arm to cover the mutant should she make any move.

The Sentinel was quickly swiped away as a streak of golden energy slammed into it. The form of two women seemed to have appeared as it streaked past and they rolled to their feet. They were Moonstar and Karma. Dani wasted no time in unleashing flights of arrows.

Sunspot with Boom Boom tossing bombs from his arms descended quickly behind his team mate as the image of his plane turned rapidly far above and headed back home.

“Score one for smashing things!” Jimmy took advantage of the distraction hurled one of his blades through the face of a sentinel which was covering him. “Will someone take out that Master Mold!”

“On it!” Yelled Boom Boom as she landed in a sprint and opened her hands filling them with energy before pitching it hard like a baseball. She willed it onwards towards it’s target.

The bomb hurtled through the air pushed by her mind before exploding on the surface of the Master Mold as it reached it. The damage was negligible.

“Master Mold 23 under direct attack! Defence mechanism activated!” The Master Mold’s joints screamed as it began to stand up. It’s chest opened allowing Sentinels to begin spilling from it as it shifted into overdrive. It’s hands glowed white with energy as it prepared to engage it’s attackers.